Right now, after a rough start, Penn State is 5-2. They’ll undoubtedly lose some more games down the stretch, as their scheuled gets harder (Ohio State, Nebraska and Wiisconsin loom). Still, they’ve had more success under coach Bill O’Brien than many people (including myself) expected.
The question is… SUPPPOSE they Nittany Lions finish say, 9-3 and end up ranked in the top 20 at the end of the season. How wil YOU feel about that?
I have no reason to feel good or bad about that. If I was a Penn State fan, I suppose I’d be happy. As an Iowa fan who has pretty much given up on this season, I don’t really care. It’s good to know, I suppose, that the program can survive after the sanctions imposed. I supported the sanctions, but didn’t want them to kill off the team completely.
As a PSU Alum who never really followed their football program since the late 1980’s, I have had very little by way of nostalgia for Penn State Football. During Bowl Season, I might watch a PSU game over another bowl, but otherwise no regular season games.
That said, I do feel empathy for the current players who have to deal with the sanctions put into place, and would be happy for those players to have a good experience.
However, for those fervent PSU football fans who still mourn the loss of JoPa, I hate to see any success for the Penn State Football program.
As a Big Ten fan, I’m torn. I want the conference to be strong, but this program has been an embarrassment to anyone with a shred of humanity, and that part of me wishes they would never win another game.
I put other because I don’t really care enough for any of the other choices. I am a football fan but not a Penn State fan. I would gladly see them lose games but I never thought the students should be punished for what the staff did or didn’t do. But really a decent season with no bowl game doesn’t get much of a reaction from me.
I think if Penn State can still field a winning team, the sanctions haven’t really hurt, and dammit, they’re supposed to HURT. The moral idiots who ran the program and their ilk at other schools will get all kinds of wrong lessons from this.
Huh? A winning season or not, the sanctions work because Penn State cannot compete for the Big 10 championship or go to a bowl game. I’d say it hurts them even more if they have a good team.
I say good for them. Those kids and the current coaching staff didn’t do anything wrong, and are fighting an uphill battle to get anything done. Anything they manage to do is a huge accomplishment, and says a tremendous deal about their ability, cohesiveness and spirit. I’ve never been a Penn State fan, and never will be - but I’m rooting for them to succeed.
Bah! Jerry Sandusky fucked a LOT of people when he fucked those kids, and the Penn State admins who covered up his child raping fucked a lot more people over, and some of them were this year’s crop of Penn State footballers. I know they’re innocent, but really, this “think of the players” crap just strikes me as more excuse-making for Penn State’s horrible conduct.
Penn State isn’t a person. The people responsible are being punished. The amount of money lost to the school is enough of a lesson to keep the new administration in line. On top of that I derive no pleasure from punishing others who had nothing to do with what happened. I guess its my Army background but I hate mass punishment. “They’re payin’ for it; YOU eat it! Ready! Exercise!”
I chose “Some other option” because I really could not care les.
seconded.
Could you please tell me why me rooting for kids and coaches that you yourself have admitted had absolutely nothing to do with the scandal equates to me making excuses for Sandusky, Paterno and other school officials? Because as it stands, that’s a pretty disgusting thing to say to me.
Thirded. Sandusky gone, Joe Pa gone, administration mostly gone, back to “who cares”?
Penn State is only winning games because the Big 10 sucks!
d&r
I don’t know about you PERSONALLY but I do suspect that a lot of the peeps who express concern about the Penn State student athletes and their fans are using it as a defense by misdirection of the Penn State program. They know they can’t defend Sandusky or Paterno and his ilk, so they say, “Look at the poor athletes!” I’m not buying it.